A switched fabric is a network topology where multiple network nodes are connected to one another via one or more network switches and one or more physical links. For example, in the context of a large serial attached SCSI (SAS) storage network, multiple initiator devices may connect with multiple target devices via one or more SAS switches and one or more corresponding physical links. The initiator devices may be, for example, host bus adapters (HBAs), SAS controllers, or other data storage controllers, and the target devices may be, for example, SAS hard disk drives, serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drives, solid state disks (SSDs), JBODs, and/or SAS tape drives. Each SAS switch may comprise an expander and a zone manager, and may forward data received from the initiator devices to the target devices, and, conversely, forward data received from the target devices to the initiator devices. Such forwarding may be accomplished based at least in part on the SAS switch's data model or network topology map, which may specify a mapping between the various network nodes, and which may be created/updated via a fabric discovery process.